A YEAR ago Phil Bardsley had fallen out with football and was seriously concerned at the direction his career was going in.

If a week is a long time in politics then 12 months is a lifetime in the national sport as the Sunderland defender has discovered.

This time in 2010 he was struggling with a variety of issues including not getting a regular game for the Stadium of Light club.

He said: “I wasn’t playing and I wasn’t really enjoying my football.

“It was a difficult spell for me. I had fallen out of love with football a little bit because I was training five days a week then not playing on the Saturday, which is hard for a player.

“That disheartens you if you care as much about the game as I do.

“It was very frustrating and there were other little things involved along the way.”

But rather than feel sorry for himself the full-back decided to get his act together and after recently signing a new three-year deal with the Premier League club he is glad that is the course he embarked on.

“I just thought last pre-season I had to do something about it and I had to start enjoying it again,” said Bardsley. “I got myself in the best possible shape and I’ve reaped the rewards.

“I’ve bounced back, I looked after number one and thankfully I’ve been playing the best football of my career.

“Hopefully I can do the same this summer and I can kick on again. I’ll keep doing the best I can for club and country.”

With that dark cloud removed from over his head the 25-year-old now sees nothing other than blue skies.

Sunderland made it into the top 10 in the Premier League and along the way Bardsley has picked up five Scotland caps.

He said: “If you set out to achieve something and do it, that’s success and Sunderland wanted to make it into the top ten when we set out last season.

“And we did it in difficult circumstances because we lost 12 first-team players – including the likes of Craig Gordon – and they were key players for us.

“If we’d had them available then we would probably have done it more comfortably.

“I’m sure any manager will tell you that when we had our strongest team out they didn’t like playing against us.

“Some of the lads were really unlucky with injuries, though, and Craig was definitely among them. He’s had some difficult ones and he’s been very unfortunate.

“Everyone knows what a top goalkeeper he is and I’m sure he’ll be back next season.

“A fully fit Craig Gordon would stake his place in any team.”

Bardsley admitted he has loved his time with Scotland.

“I’ve really enjoyed it,” he said. “We’re going in the right direction and if we keep performing the way we have we’ll have a good chance of qualifying for the European Championships.

“We’ve come on leaps and bounds. I’ve only been in the squad a short time but the enthusiasm and the work-rate is evident and we all want to play for each other.

“Everyone wants to do the best they can for Scotland and it’s like a club atmosphere and I just want to be playing.

“Craig Levein spoke to me and said he was going to leave me out of the Wales game recently because I’d had an injury at West Ham on the Sunday, but I was eager to get on because that’s the kind of person I am.

“In the end I got five minutes and that was enough to make me happy, and then I played against the Republic of Ireland.”

And he came within a whisker of opening his scoring account for the country with only a wonder Shay Given save denying him.

“I got three in the Premiership and I nearly rounded it off with an international goal in Dublin,” said Bardsley.

“I hit it as clean as I could have and I’ve no idea how Given got to it. It was a wonder save. I had to go over to him at half-time and shake his hand.”